In an increasingly autocratic world, leaders with authoritarian tendencies distort the definition of democracy for political gain. And once the concept is weakened, even long-standing representative systems are at risk, something that occurs in countries like the United States and India.
The finding appeared in a study published this Thursday (17) by Science magazine and coordinated by the University of Oxford (United Kingdom), Emory University (United States) and the National University of Singapore. Researchers interviewed 6,000 people in six countries (USA, Italy, Egypt, India, Thailand and Japan) to investigate how citizens around the world understand the concept of democracy.
Two factors were identified as essential for a society to be considered democratic: competitive elections and strong protections for civil liberties. The choice of these elements was consistent regardless of respondents’ age, gender, education, minority status, or political ideology.
“Almost everyone in the world says they value democracy, but its meaning has been debated and contested in the public sphere on a constant basis”, he tells Sheet Scott Williamson, professor in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford and co-author of the study.
“Leaders who don’t like free and fair elections sometimes try to convince citizens that democracy is not about elections, but about a system in which they can develop policies that satisfy the people,” he adds, pointing out a series of democratic setbacks in the last decade.
According to the professor, Hungary, under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Turkey, under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are examples of countries that have made a “transition from democratic to authoritarian political systems” in recent years. The first is in his fifth term and is accumulating disagreements over his “illiberal democracy” project, with anti-immigration, anti-LGBTQIA+ and anti-press freedom measures.
The Turkish leader has been in power for more than 20 years and, like the Hungarian leader, is accused of eroding the independence of the Judiciary, undermining freedom of the press and weakening human rights in the country.
In the case of consolidated undemocratic regimes, which includes China, efforts to promote “alternative understandings of democracy” as a way of “changing standards in their favor” become even more evident, says Williamson. The country is run by the Communist Party, which does not tolerate dissent.
“If (political leaders) can persuade people that the meaning of democracy reflects their own model of governance, they can use popular support for democracy to improve perceptions of their own autocratic power,” says the professor when justifying the importance of study.
After competitive elections and civil liberties protections, the two most important attributes for a society to be considered democratic were gender equality and economic equality.
Respondents also point out that nations in which leaders respect the authority of the Legislature and courts are more likely to be democratic. In this sense, says Williamson, the perception of American democracy could be impacted by the election scheduled for November. Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, said he will accept the result only “if the election is free and fair.”
“Trump has already tried to prevent the peaceful transfer of power after losing the 2020 election. Since then, he has stated that he would crack down on his political opponents if he wins the race. He has also threatened to seek legal punishments against critical media outlets. And I see no reason to believe that he will accept defeat in the election,” says Williamson. He believes American democracy is at risk.
Brazil, he says, “seems to have been much more effective” than the US in punishing anti-democratic actions by former president Jair Bolsonaro and his supporters, a reference to January 8th.
Finally, respondents were more likely to consider countries in which they can vote directly on policies, whether in plebiscites or referenda, as more democratic. This “direct democracy”, however, proved to be less important compared to other factors.
The six countries were chosen for the research because they have different “political regimes, democratic histories, geographic regions, levels of development and cultural origins.”
In 2022, 7 in 10 people (5.7 billion) lived under political regimes considered not fully democratic, according to the UN. A report by the V-Dem institute released last year, in turn, pointed to a record of autocratization, a system in which a nation erodes crucial pillars of democracy, such as alternation of power, freedoms of expression and press, and competitive elections.
In the study released this Thursday, the researchers point out that they found “little evidence of an authoritarian redefinition” of democracy. Even in authoritarian countries like Egypt or Thailand, the representative system is still perceived as being strengthened by competitive elections and freedoms.
